Biology

Physiology

Jynx is a humanoid Pokémon that resembles a bulky woman. Jynx wears a red gown that hides her feet, has white arms and purple hands. Jynx has a purple face, pink lips, saucer-like eyes and long blond hair. She seems to resemble a Nordic princess, as seen in various operas. Originally, her face was colored black, causing a controversy.

Gender differences

Jynx is a female-only species with no male counterpart.

Special abilities

Jynx can use telepathy to transfer visions of what they've seen into a another being's mind. In battle, Jynx have the power to control ice and snow and can also use physical force to some degree.

Jynx, the Human Shape Pokémon. Jynx is known for expressing its many and varied feelings by dancing around in graceful and rhythmical motions.

This concludes the entries from the Advanced Generation series.

In the manga

Jynx's most notable role is being under the ownership of Lorelei in Pokémon Adventures. Lorelei's Jynx is noted for having the ability to generate voodoo dolls out of ice using its Ice Beam. When Lorelei draws crosses on any part of the dolls using her lipstick, ice shackles form on the specified body parts of her targets, eventually freezing the victim over completely. Even after the victims are broken free, the freeze induces lasting numbness in the areas where it was applied. Both Red and Sabrina suffered this condition and had to seek a cure atop Mt. Silver by bathing in the hotsprings there.

Another ability of Lorelei's Jynx is revealed in the Sevii Islands saga: she can create a wispy band of ice around targets, with which Lorelei can use to track down using her powder case.

Jynx walks rhythmically, swaying and shaking its hips as if it were dancing. Its motions are so bouncingly alluring, people seeing it are compelled to shake their hips without giving any thought to what they are doing

Jynx walks rhythmically, swaying and shaking its hips as if it were dancing. Its motions are so bouncingly alluring, people seeing it are compelled to shake their hips without giving any thought to what they are doing

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As its Pokédex entries state that it speaks a language that sounds like human, the player, as a Pokémon, cannot understand anything of what it says in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, which would make it appear that Pokémon cannot normally understand human speech. However this contradicts several other forms of canon, such as the Pokémon anime and various manga works where Pokémon are able to understand human speech, especially evident by Team Rocket's Meowth.

Controversy

Jynx originally bore a striking, but possibly coincidental, resemblance to entertainers in blackface. A strong case can be made for Jynx being a parody of or homage to the Japanese Ganguro and Yamanba fashion trends, which were extremely popular when Pokémon was first released, but it can't be denied that blackface-influenced characters have appeared elsewhere in anime and manga - examples can be found near the beginning of Osamu Tezuka's early graphic novel, Metropolis and also can be found with Dragon Ball Z's Mr. Popo.

As Pokémon became more popular in the US, this perceived similarity to a racist image from America's past offended some. In particular, it had offended children's book author Carole Boston Weatherford, who accused Jynx of being a racist stereotype in an article titled "Politically Incorrect Pokémon" in the magazine Black World Today, shortly after the anime episode Holiday Hi-Jynx aired. Episodes that contained Jynx in its original design were left unaired outside of Japan, including EP250 and portions of All Things Bright and Beautifly.

In response to this controversy, Nintendo changed Jynx's hands from dark blue to purple and its face from black to purple in Pokémon games, including in the English and international versions of Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal. Jynx has appeared since using its new design with no problems. However, in the Who's That Pokémon? section of It's Mr. Mime Time, Jynx appears with its original colorings.

Origin

What Jynx is based on is a controversial topic within the fandom, although common interpretations are a Nordic woman (possibly Hel, goddess of the underworld), or ガン黒 ganguro, face-black. Also, the fact that Jynx are depicted as Santa's helpers in the anime can be a proof that Jynx is based on Zwarte Piet. Jynx also has the traits of a female opera singer, especially the iconic cartoon depiction of the fat lady. It should also be noted that the third generation sprites depict it singing, especially the emerald sprite that animates it signing a high note.

Jynx may also have origins in the Japanese spirits known as Yuki Onna (who has no feet like Jynx) or Yama Uba, the latter of which is described as always wearing a tattered red kimono and having whitish-blonde hair (all traits shared by Jynx).

Name origin

A jinx is a curse or hex of bad luck. Rougela appears to be a feminized version of rouge, a type of makeup.